Chippewa river, Mt P.?

[WEEZER]

I was thinking about hounding the bass on the chip with the ole flyrod in the next couple of weeks.
Any suggestions on where to access for best wading conditions? Anybody want to go?

[skinne]

never fished in in m.p. for bass but theres lots of places west of midland to fish it with good access homer,merdian,8mi,9mi,magruder roads all have access if you turn south of m-20.

[riverboy]

Weezer

Ya count me in if your need a partner! I have been wanting to do some fly rod bass fishing but havent yet this summer. I think I got some info on access spots. I have to look back in my email.

[brmara]

I have only fished the Chip once or twice but would love to go. I remember access was good West of Mt. Pleasant like off Homer (like skinne said).

I saw a paper at Little Forks Orvis shop in Midland that has guided trips on the Chip for smallmouth, saying it was one of the best smallmouth rivers in this part of the country. At least we know they are good fish there!

Let me know when you want to load up the fly rods and go - I'll be there.

Brian

[WEEZER]

I'm looking at Thursday afternoon of this week.
I have looked at Meridain but didn't know if it was wadeable. Hell I think we could fish a bunch of people down there.

[brmara]

Thursday afternoon sounds great - the more the merrier. I have only accessed it from Winn Rd., but anyplace West of MP would be great. I think the closer you get to the lake, the tougher the access is.

Let me know when and where and whoever can make it, will.

BRM

brmarable@dow.com

[riverboy]

ya I can make it. I wont be able to leave untill after 3:00 though. Not sure what time your planning on going but let me know!

[brmara]

Let's meet around 4:30 at the Meridian road crossing. Whoever wants to come. We can spread out from there. If you are late that's OK - eveyone will probably be upstream.

See ya' then.

Brian

brmarable@dow.com

[riverboy]

brian

sounds great see ya at 4:30 at meridain rd

[skinne]

just to let all of you know u can only park on the west side of the road there use to be a parking lot on the east side but a few disrespectful people upset the land owner enough to block it off. iff u fish merdian head up stream theres alot of good holes between there and 8mi use to pick up a few walleye in that strech also.good luck would love to go but have physical therapy.

[brmara]

Thanks for the insider info, Skinne. Too bad you can't make it - maybe next time.

Brian

[riverboy]

ya thanks skinne hope to see ya next time!

[skinne]

not a problem guys i would like to give it a try some time being a mostly garden hackle(cralwer) fisheman i could learn alot from you guys let me know how you due.

[brmara]

Had a great time last night - weather was great. Mostly small fish - smallmouth, largemouth, and quite a few rock bass. Mostly in holes, were taking a hopper pattern (and my orange indicator yarn when I was fishing a woollybugger). Have never fished the Chip that much - it is a beauty of a river. Lots of weedbeds though.

Maybe we can hook up next time. The new bridge at Winn Rd. has a pull-off for access.

Brian

[riverboy]

Brian

Weezer and I fished meirdain rd west of midland. we were wondering what happened to ya. I got thinking later on that maybe you were at the one west of MP. confusion, poor communication what ever. We were thinking meridian west of midland and you were thinking west of MP. Going back and reading the thread I see you actually even said anywhere west of MP. I am sorry for the poor communication!

Anyways weezer did fairley well he caught a beauty 14" small mouth ripping a zoo cougar on a sinking line and several other smaller ones. I on the other hand didnt do as well I fished a big hopper and a sneaking pete nothing. I switch to a conehead yellow madonna (thanks ladykiller). Had a real hard hit and striped my line back in and not even my fly was there, a clean break. Must have been a pike.

I am going to give it another try next week. If you guys want to go again let's all try to meet on the same meridain road!

[brmara]

Sorry for the mixup. I should have paid closer attention to the posts, because someone mentioned something about "8 mile, 9 mile" and I have should have known. I just figured you guys got hung up.

Anyway, I hope it can work out next week! Anyday BUT Monday would be great with me. I think it's a stupid idea to have two "Meridian Rds." so close to each other anyway.

Sounds like you got into some nice fish, though. Hopefully we will all have slightly better luck next week!

Hey - how was the wading (there in Midland)?

Brian

[riverboy]

Monday and friday would be the only days i could go. I have my daughter tuesday, and then wednesday the wife, kid and I are heading to the wifes aunts cottage for a couple of days. I have to have my daughter back to my ex by friday afternoon. So I will be free friday night. But Now that im thinking about it I might head up to the ausable for some trout fishing for the weekend. The following week for sure! I have to drop the kid off at 8 on tuseday she lives in freeland so I might run over to homer rd or something and fish till dark. If you want to meet me there I should be there at around 8:30 or so. Let me know!

wading was real easy at meridain rd(west of midland) lots of gravel, rocks, and some sand some weeds but not to bad. Not to many holes the section we fished, but a real nice run upstream from the bridge. Thats were weezer caught most of his fish, and where I had a hard hit (streamer stealer).How was the wading where you were at?

[brmara]

Two Tuesdays from now would be great. Besides, I would go to the Au Sable over the Chippewa any day of the week. It sounds like you have a lot going on next week (so do I) - let's just shoot for the week after and see if we can't meet up.

The wading was really easy where I was. There were some deep holes on the bends, but the flow was really slow. Some areas (like near the Meridian bridge) had lots of big-ass boulders so that was tricky, but overall it was easy wading.

Let me know about two Tuesdays from now (July 23rd?)

Brian

[riverboy]

tuesdays or wednesdays are not good for me. I have my daughter both those days every week. It'll have to be a monday or thurs. Fri, Sat, Sun Im usally up north chasing trout! Let me know

[skinne]

post when you guys decide to go my buddy has acces to the river through a faimly friend of 8mi the last time i was there with him there were a couple of holes that were more then waist deep and few house peace and quite if hes free ill see if we can go over there

[binkley]

Fished the Chip yesterday afternoon at Meridian Br. (Midland). Got a few real little smallmouth and a rockbass. Saw a guy leaving with a stringer full of catfish. A couple of them were 20" plus. I fished downstream from the bridge. If you go down about 100 yards past the island it gets a little deeper and rocky with less weeds. I've caught some nice smallies there using an olive cone head whooly bugger. I've only fished upstream there once. How far do you have to go to get to an area where the weeds aren't too thick?

[brmara]

I fished the Chip at Meridian Rd. - East on Saturday evening. I didn't have any luck immediately downstream from the bridge - only small rock bass (there were huge suckers there, though). I went upstream and got into some nice smallies - most around 12"-14"; one hog wouldn't even fit in my net so he was over 18" long.

The good action didn't start until after about 7:30 or so - before that, nothing but small nips. I was slinging a olive muddler and stripping pretty fast with a sinking line. If it hadn't been my first time there, I would've stayed out past dusk. No one else out there, either!

Brian :D